Understanding the consensus decision-making model

The consensus decision-making model has several key steps. Here’s an overview:

1. Discussion: The group gathers to talk about a decision the organization needs to make. As much background information as possible is given to ensure clarity and team members are encouraged to share their perspectives, experiences and worries.
2. Clarification and questions: If there’s a lack of clarity about the information presented, this step addresses any uncertainty or confusion. Participants ask questions to make sure they fully understand the decision at hand.
3. Options and solutions: This step involves brainstorming, allowing group members to collaboratively generate various alternative solutions in case someone has a better idea.
4. Evaluation: The team discusses the pros and cons of each proposed solution.
5. Reaching consensus: Every team member confirms their stance and the team works to make a decision that everyone agrees on. Everyone must have their voice heard and concerns should be explored and talked through.

Stances group members can take

Consensus decision-making is about capturing the nuance of each individual’s unique voice. That means reaching a consensus requires terminology beyond agreeing or disagreeing so team members can more accurately communicate their opinions.

Here’s an example of the optional stance participants can use to express themselves:

• Concern: A concern isn’t a disagreement or negative stance; it’s a way of clarifying the information given and offering individual reasons for concerns. Concerns make room for the modification of proposals so they better suit all involved parties.
• Reservation: If, after extensive discussion, one or more team members aren’t satisfied that their concerns have been addressed but think it’s a minor issue, they might say they have reservations. This means they’re happy for the decision to go ahead but aren’t 100% behind it.
• Stand aside: Standing aside lets members demonstrate that they don’t agree with the decision but don’t want to leave the group or block the decision. They must specifically say they’re standing aside, and it should be noted in the meeting minutes. If several members choose to stand aside, you might need to do more work to reach a solution.
• Block: When a participant blocks a decision, they’re saying they cannot support it and would rather leave the group than do so. It should be an absolute last resort that’s reached after a long discussion and marked effort to reach a consensus. Often, the reasons for blocking are value- or ethics-driven.

Pros and cons of consensus decision-making

The main advantage of consensus decision-making is inclusivity. It gives every team member a voice and ensures decisions are made as a united front. In workplaces with a flat hierarchy, CDM can be complementary. In more traditional top-down environments, it can be confusing and detrimental.

Let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of consensus decision-making in more detail.

Pros

Pros of CDM include:

• The interactive process can bring positive feelings within the group, helping you establish a strong, close-knit team and promoting employee retention.
• It’s easier to get all employees on board and working as hard as possible to achieve objectives if decisions consider everyone’s perspective.
• If everyone reaches a broad agreement regarding decision-making, morale is high and collaboration can thrive.
• Because each department and individual must agree on decisions, you’re less likely to see conflict between HR and finance, for example.

Cons

Here are some cons of using consensus decision-making:

• In a traditional hierarchical business, consensus decision-making could be an excuse for the most powerful and knowledgeable team members to shift responsibility away from themselves.
• Each department has different goals and priorities, and different departments’ decisions aren’t always equally weighted. As such, a decision that most people are happy with might not be the best for the organization as a whole but is the most attractive.
• One of the main cons of CDM is groupthink, which is the desire to simply reach a consensus for the sake of reaching it and ignoring negative data to get there.
• If there are particularly confident and well-spoken people in the group, their ideas may dominate despite not being the most effective.

Common pitfalls to avoid

Let’s explore some common pitfalls to avoid when adopting consensus decision-making:

• Time: One of the biggest pitfalls of CDM is not leaving enough time to reach a consensus. It can take multiple conversations over several days or weeks to go through the process properly. Start early, schedule multiple group conversations and use video conferencing to save time.
• Multiple attempts: Even after numerous meetings and discussions, you might still struggle to reach a consensus. Always specify a deadline and have a contingency plan in case you don’t manage to reach a consensus. For example, saying the team has until 6pm on Friday to make a decision or the leadership team will take it on themselves might push participants to overcome minor issues and reach an agreement.
• Unclear proposals: If the proposed solutions aren’t clearly defined, your team might end up with different ideas of the decision they’re trying to make. Write down the problem and ask everyone to share their understanding of it at the start of the session so you can clarify it if necessary.

By knowing about potential pitfalls in advance and planning around them, you can get the best out of CDM.

Best practices for consensus decision-making

Consensus decision-making requires all participants to adopt active listening. That means you should already foster a culture of open communication in your workplace and encourage people to ask questions and be patient with each other. It’s crucial that knee-jerk reactions and impulsive ideation don’t drive CDM meetings but instead are guided by curiosity and the desire to understand each other.

It’s a good idea to create a code of conduct for employees to follow when participating in consensus decision-making. Include tips for best practices such as these:

• Listen to other people and take time to understand their reasoning before responding.
• Come to the meeting open-minded, willing to consider other perspectives and not with the aim of forcing your viewpoint on people.
• Describe your reasoning briefly and clearly instead of passionately arguing. It’s not about being right or getting everyone to take on your viewpoint — it’s about finding the most practical solution.
• View a difference of opinion from a coworker as an interesting idea to be explored rather than a direct challenge to your personal viewpoint.
• Don’t go along with a decision to avoid conflict, and always speak up when you have a concern or reservation.
• Stick with the process instead of defaulting to a majority vote. This might take time initially, but the process gets easier as teams get used to it.

Consensus decision-making aims to ensure every team member gets a voice in decision-making within an organization. When done properly, it can foster inclusivity and trust, strengthen bonds between coworkers, and reduce interdepartmental conflict. However, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, with potential setbacks, including groupthink and dilution of responsibility.

To make CDM work, encourage active listening, collaboratively draft a code of conduct and follow best practices. Provided your workplace is committed to open communication and has ample time for meetings, it can be a powerful tool for inclusive decision-making.

To make CDM work, encourage active listening, collaboratively draft a code of conduct and follow best practices. Provided your workplace is committed to open communication and has ample time for meetings, it can be a powerful tool for inclusive decision-making.